Advertisers are increasingly placing their advertisements on social media to drive digital engagement. For example, sports brand Adidas recently announced it will focus its marketing efforts exclusively on digital and social channels. These marketing efforts are related to how people engage with advertising within a platform. Whether the nature of engagement differs within social media platforms could interfere with the success of marketing efforts.
Hilde Voorveld, Guda van Noort, Daniel Muntinga and Fred Bronner of the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands examined the relationship between social media engagement and social media advertising. They conducted a survey with 1,346 respondents, aged 13 and older, to study consumers’ engagement with eight social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google+, Snapchat, Instagram and Pinterest.
Researchers found clear differences between the different social media platforms when examining engagement dimensions such as topicality, entertainment, pastime, stimulation, innovation, and social interaction.
Facebook scored highest on social interaction and topicality, allowing people to correspond with others, to do or share something with others, and to be quickly informed and up to date. Consumers also used Facebook to fill empty moments.
YouTube scored highest on the entertainment dimension, making people happy and relaxed, and allowing them to have a moment for themselves. LinkedIn, on the other hand, was perceived by users as a social medium that ensured they were quickly informed and up to date.
Respondents used Google+ to get useful ideas/tips/advice, which motivates them to visit a shop or search for more information and shows them how they could approach problems. Snapchat allowed users to do or share something with others and ensured people could correspond with others.
Instagram was often used to fill empty moments, and it was perceived by users as a social medium that ensured they were quickly informed and up to date. Pinterest, on the other hand, made people enthusiastic, was original and unique and offered something new.
Users were exposed to advertising mostly on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. On Snapchat, only 6.67 percent of respondents indicated they saw advertising; on Pinterest, it was 12 percent.
Advertising was evaluated most negatively on YouTube, followed by Facebook and Twitter. Conversely, consumers were most positive about advertising on Google+ and Pinterest.
The study suggests that advertisers should plan and evaluate their digital media expenditures not only on such quantitative metrics as the numbers of likes, comments, views or followers but also on insights from qualitative data, meaning how people behave on different social media platforms.
To read the full text of the study:
Voorveld, H. A., van Noort, G., Muntinga, D. G., & Bronner, F. (2018). Engagement with social media and social media advertising: The differentiating role of platform type. Journal of Advertising, 47(1), 38-54.
